By: Mackenna Handeland (BirkenstockReport)

On June 15th, five brave south central geocachers visited Sitka for the day with a few short objectives.

• Objective #1: GC68 Centurion Guards
• Objective #2: GC6E Kids’ Cache
• Objective #3: Meet any geocachers active in Sitka 
• Objective #4: Find all the other caches on the island. 

The flight down routed through Juneau and since this was a Monday morning flight during the emergency legislative session, it was packed with familiar faces, including my local senator, who was already deep in a rem cycle by the time I boarded, didn’t wake up when I accidentally spilt iced coffee all over her white vest as I passed by; and our Governor, who made the expanded 737 headspace still look quite cramped. This still beats last month when I introduced myself to Mark Begich, thinking he must have been one of my father-in-law’s fishing buddies since he looked so familiar. Oops.

We landed at 10:30 and grabbed the rental car before heading to Highliner Coffee for our event, GCBQWV1. There, we met three cachers from Minnesota who were in town for three days with the same goal as us for the day. ShadowMedic, nsaj, and dbakel had already claimed FTF on a virtual that had been published the day before and were ready to join us for GC68 (Centurion Guards) and GC6E (Kids’ Cache). We were also joined by Sitka locals LTTB, a husband-wife duo who have been caching in Alaska since 2006, and their sweet dog. They previously lived in Palmer and moved to Oregon and Washington for a few years before coming back to Sitka. We had coffee and bagels, most with smoked salmon, and then hit the road to the Sawmill Campground, the home of GC68. Depending on your outlook, it was either fortunate or unfortunate that the road to the campground remains closed this year. It is managed by the US Forest Service, and is typically open April-October, depending on avalanche conditions. When the road is open, you can drive to within 400 feet of GC68. They chose not to open it this season for unspecified safety reasons, but still encourage hiking and biking in,  resulting in a 3.5-mile round-trip hike from the gate. The walk is generally gently uphill for a mile and then downhill to the campground about a half mile. 

We found GC7RVJZ Slip and Slide on the way there, around the halfway mark. Once at the campground, we crossed the footbridge and turned off the path for the final 200 feet to the cache, which is hidden in some beautiful exposed roots surprisingly high off the ground. 

BirkenstockReport at GC68

We also found GC296Q8, Shocking Cache and GC32FCD, Bridges and Stairs! nearby. Bridge and Stairs offered the promised stairs at a steep elevation gain, but all were fantastic finds. On our way back to town, we grabbed a few more caches and answers for some Earth Caches. Then it was time for GC6E, Kids’ Cache. This cache is also a September 2000 cache, hidden just a few days after Centurion Guards. The drive between the two oldies will take you to the two extremes of Sitka, and is about 30 minutes apart. Kids’ Cache is located at the far end of a 1.5-mile loop around Mosquito Cove. The original hider of both caches, BaronofIsland, hid this cache for his grandchildren, who are likely in their thirties by now. Baronofisland’s real name is Greg Short, and his son, Gary (gsshort), has adopted both GC68 and GC6E and visits annually for maintenance checks, although he does not live in Sitka. Both caches were in great shape with many travel bugs and path tags for trading. 

Overall, the impression I got from both caches was a true reminder of the early days of caching– a beautiful hike to a large container full of fun in a scenic setting. This is a far cry from the urban caching or wild gadgets we’ve come to love, and a great way to appreciate the roots of geocaching. If the dates didn’t matter, Kids’ Cache would be my preference simply because the trail is even more beautiful than the walk to Centurion Guards. I will surely be camping out there on my next visit to Sitka, as the trail system also has some beautiful tent spots along the first ⅓ of the path. 

After ensuring that our main targets had been acquired, we traveled back into town, grabbing traditionals and earth caches along the way. There is one multi in Sitka that does get DNF’d often. The original stage one was a GPS chirp that no longer works, so you have to visit the waypoints to see the now visible coordinates for the final stage, which is located over by the Raptor center. Even with it now being a one-stage multi, it was very difficult to find, and we utilized hints from our new friends, the Minnesotans who had found it the day before. We also visited the brand new virtual GCBJ738 and placed a challenge cache GCBRKC2 before leaving town. We had a quick dinner at the airport restaurant, which was awesome, and RB126127 almost missed his flight for the second time today. The restaurant was surprisingly good, and between having changed into dry clothes and having hot and crispy tater tots, the long flight back through Juneau was very pleasant. We landed back in Anchorage around 10:30 pm and did a group high five before filtering back into our “normal lives.” 

You can see a video recap of our trip on instagram here. 

For those planning a trip: 

• Keep an eye out for AlaskaAir deals. I got my flight for 8k miles RT during an early May mileage fare sale. 
• Renting a car is pretty paramount since the two major caches are so far apart– it will likely be cheaper than cabs. There are public buses around Sitka a lot to support the cruise ship passengers, but if you’re on a short trip like us, it’s not feasible. We rented our five-seat Volvo for $145 for the day through Turo. 
• You can rent eBikes downtown and either put them in your rental car or bike the 7 miles out to the gate for GC68 if you don’t want to walk from the gate to the campground. We had folks passing us on eBikes a few times during the walk and they seemed to handle the elevation well. If you’re in a hurry, this may be the fastest way to get to Centurion guards. You’ll still need to walk the last 200 feet. Kids’ Cache’s trail is not eBike-friendly. 
• The road to Sawmill Campground is very pet friendly, but keep in mind that there is a bear sanctuary right next to the road (and a cache there! GC9ZM8D) which could upset your pet. 
• If you like oldies, Harbor Mountain Cache GC886F is from September 2002. There is a hike to it, but there are a few caches around it for those with short attention spans. 
• Peter Pan’s Hideout is another Sitka favorite, but requires a zero or negative tide (not just any low tide) to get to. Plan accordingly. 
• If you’re an FTF and lonely cache chaser, check out GC5HFR2 which was published in 2014 and has not been found yet! 

By Tim Janneck (AlaskaTim)

“But in every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

John Muir

By Wes Skinner (NorthWes)

The AK State Parks 2026 Geocaching Permit Eduvent (GCBT0K9) is scheduled for Thursday July 9th at 7pm at a location out on West Dimond Blvd. Put that event on your calendar! It’s important for all geocachers here in Alaska to learn about the details of the 2026 AK State Parks Geocaching Permit, especially if you’ve placed a geocache on state park lands under terms of prior permits. The new 2026 permit details supersede all prior permits, and there are many new terms which all existing geocaches must meet within the next few months.While working on implementation of the new permit’s details, a series of questions have been collected and sent to AK State Parks for clarification

We’ve held off on the Permit Eduvent until all questions have been answered, but the need to discuss the permit details far outweighs the advantages of having all the questions we’ve submitted to be answered first. It’s to every geocacher’s advantage to understand AK State Parks’ new permit system and the land management details which affect geocaching. The geocaching game has recently been declared a ‘noncompliant’ use of Alaska state park lands, and that determination is driving a series of changes regarding how geocaching is allowed to be played on state park lands.

The GeocacheAlaska! Inc. forums have a very comprehensive explanation of the new permit, which can be accessed here. The most significant three items required under the new permit include a cap of only 500 geocaches total across the entire state, and a special size limitation with in Chugach State Park that allows only micro caches. Compliance with these two conditions is challenging enough. However, the State Park Rangers who are handling enforcement of the permit requirements have indicated that the annual owner maintenance visit (an already-existing requirement, which must be logged BOTH online AND via a physical log entry by the cache owner) is getting serious attention as well. Thus far, rangers are indicating a very low owner-maintenance compliance rate for caches previously placed on state park lands. The rangers are going to be asking for archival of all geocaches which have not had an annual maintenance visit by late this summer. Enforcement of this requirement alone could result in archival of a majority of geocaches within Alaska State Parks!

Please make your best effort to attend this eduvent to learn about how we’ve worked in an advocacy role to continue the opportunity to geocache on Alaska State Park lands, as well as learning how to comply with terms of the 2026 permit. State Park staff isn’t trying to eliminate geocaching – rather, they’re trying to ensure geocaches comply with good land management practices regarding private property which is  licensed to be left on public lands.